Chapter 1: Who Am I? You sure you want to know?
Growing up, the one thing I wanted more than anything was to be a Hero. It was all I could think of. Why? I thought it was obvious. I wanted to be like my idol, All Might. Someone who keeps people safe and fights evil with a reassuring smile on his face. But as I got older, I realized something. I'm never going to be like All Might, not because I was born without true strength, but because I don't have it in me to show everyone the real me. I can only keep a brave front while hiding behind a mask. Like I was some kind of freak who made people ill just by looking at me.
I didn't have a legitimate reason to be a Hero. It was never about fun for me, but I had no real commitment or ambition. Just another foolish child trying to hopelessly mimic whatever seemed natural to do. But then there was the Spider bite. Just one bite and everything changed.
Everything… changed.
"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Cried hysterically, a small and fearful young man with sticky balls on top of his head named Minoru Mineta, convinced that death was imminent.
"You need to stay calm, Mineta. Otherwise, the villains will have an easier time getting to us," Replied a classmate named Tsuyu Asui, keeping a calmer and reserved demeanor despite also being afraid.
"SHUT UP! It's normal to panic at a time like this! I'm not ready to take on Villains. That was the whole point of coming into this university, and now I'm going to die before I can accomplish anything." Mineta became more frantic by the second. "THIS SUCKS! I CAN'T DIE! I'VE NEVER EVEN GOT A CHANCE TO TOUCH YAOYOROZU'S ENORMOUS BOOBIES!"
'The thought of acting like a villain just this once and leaving him behind is tempting,' Tsuyu thought, irritated by Mineta's perverted behavior, while her expression revealed nothing still.
"That kid is so annoying," One of the villains, Sharkyonara, groaned with agitation. "I'm not going to lose any sleep drowning him at the bottom of this lake."
"Agreed, but remember what Shigaraki said. We mustn't underestimate any of the students from the Hero Course. They're typically known for having amazingly powerful Quirks," Warned the apparent leader of the group sent to watch over the Flood Zone with a skull-like head, Hanzo Suiden. "Still, it's also a risk to give them time to plan a possible escape, so I'll damage the ship and have it slowly sink, leaving them with nowhere to hide."
As Hanzo readied to use his Quirk, which gives him control over water harden it to deliver deadly physical attacks, neither the villains nor heroes in training realized that another individual was in the USJ's Flood Zone, swinging above the facility unseen by anyone for the moment, landing near the waterfall, positioning himself in a way reminiscent of a spider, where he can look below him with perfect clarity everything going on in the lake.
A young man covered head to toe in a bright green color scheme, a skintight costume that reveals nothing of who he is. A mask with black lines running along it in a web pattern, as well as two big white eyes. The costume barely has any noteworthy features other than a simplified white spider emblem on his chest that serves as his symbol. Other than that, it is made of good material that offers both protection and flexibility for acrobatic movements.
"I'm too late. This attack already started," He cursed his misfortune, having sped to this facility as quickly as he could upon learning of this attack a short while back, but as he feared, he wasn't fast enough to warn the UA Faculty, so it may have been for the best that he chose to swing by here instead.
He narrows his eyes, which is conveyed with the lenses capable of adjusting to visually express how he's feeling, adding a touch of personality to the costume.
"One… two… eight… no, twelve—eighteen," He calculated the number of Villains scattered across the lake, prowling the ship like wolves circling prey. Two students, cornered and terrified, stood trapped on the main deck with nowhere to run.
"No time to waste," He readied himself, lifting his left hand, fingers poised in the familiar shape he had long since mastered—index and pinky extended, middle and ring fingers curled inward, thumb cocked out—like a gunslinger ready to draw.
A soft crack split the air as luminous green energy spiraled from the open slits along his wrists. Threads of ethereal webbing, shimmering and alive, stitched themselves into existence, weaving together like gossamer spun from a dream. They pulsed faintly against the damp air, glowing veins of living light bending reality between anchor points.
Without hesitation, He pressed one hand against the rocky cliff beside him and anchored a dense web line, thick enough to support his full weight. He threw himself forward off the waterslide, twisting midair in a fluid, almost lazy spiral. He dropped like a stone—straight down—then swung hard, a living pendulum arcing toward the center of the battlefield.
Below the ship, he let go, shooting smaller psi-threads from his fingertips like a barrage of silken bullets. Each glowing shot struck home, sticking fast to villain after villain, slapping across faces, eyes, and mouths—blinding, silencing, panicking.
Sharkyonara angrily clawed at the glowing strands plastered over his vision.
"Webbing?" He gasped, then grimaced. "No—it feels… wrong."
Whatever it was, the conclusion among the villains was unanimous—and chilling.
"The Vigilante's here!"
Above the fray, Asui and Mineta blinked up in confusion as chaos broke out around them. Before either could even speak, a figure dropped into view, dangling upside-down from a single thread of green psychic silk.
The man hung effortlessly, legs crossed at the ankles around his webbing, swinging lightly in the air like a pendulum.
"Yo," He chirped, voice light and casual. "Anyone ordered a friendly neighbor? Hope you don't mind—I crashed the party."
Mineta gawked. Tsuyu's wide eyes flicked from the deck to the stranger hanging like a ghost. Before they could reply, a furious roar split the air.
"WEBJACK!" Hanzo screamed in outrage, controlling a swirling mass of water with his Quirk, hurled a massive liquid fist at the ship, aiming to crush it—and everyone on board.
Webjack's body moved before conscious thought.
In a flash, he snapped another webline into the rock above, grabbed both students by their costumes, and launched himself upward in a single explosive leap. They soared past the shattered deck, flying higher than any frog or human had a right to.
Landing atop the craggy ridge near the waterfall, Webjack dropped Tsuyu and Mineta safely onto solid ground.
"Y-You… you saved us!" Mineta cried out a waterfall of his own with his eyes, relief that help had arrived.
"Stay put," Webjack said, voice shifting into a more serious tone beneath the playful cadence. "Hide. Don't move until the Pros show up, got it?"
Neither student dared argue.
Webjack turned and dove back toward the battle below.
The villains were already converging—swimming or flying toward the wreckage, their bloodlust thick in the air.
Webjack neared the water in a perfect dive, spinning once to hurl six web-lines outward. Psi-threads caught six villains at once, yanking them out of the lake and straight toward him like fish on hooks.
Before they could react, he lashed out—rapid strikes, precision punches, sharp kicks—each one snapping with the strength of a hydraulic press. Six villains dropped like stones before they even understood how they'd been hit.
Hanzo screamed again, summoning another monstrous hand of swirling water. Webjack didn't wait to see how big it got.
He fired a web upward—thwip—reattaching to the anchor line above, and jerked himself upward, narrowly dodging the tidal strike. In the same breath, he yanked Hanzo clean out of the water with another strand and snapped his feet across the villain's face midair, knocking him out cold.
Water splashed around him as he let himself drop into the lake.
Webjack's heart hammered in his ears, but relief tinged his adrenaline—his costume's waterproofing held firm. His psi-webbing, too, remained unaffected underwater, slicing through the currents like neon blades.
The remaining villains surged forward, thinking the water gave them the advantage.
They were wrong.
Webjack grinned beneath his mask.
"You poor guys," He muttered, rolling his shoulders. "You just made it easier for me."
With a shimmer of green light, he wove his web through the dark waters—and struck.
"He's… incredible," Mineta gasped in awe.
"Is this even the same guy from the first few months?" Tsuyu muttered, not sure herself.
They, along with everyone in their institute, UA University, know about Webjack. The Vigilante showed up months ago, operating in Musutafu, Japan, and also in other cities like Hosu, Kamino, Yokohama, swinging around everywhere with webs, crawling on buildings, and stopping crimes both minor and major.
In this day and age, vigilantism is nonsensical given how Heroes are not only the central part of the world's society but sanctioned by the governments so anyone who fights crime without first being licensed is seen as no better than a Villain so every Pro-Hero and Police is obligated to arrest him on sight but somehow, Webjack has not only managed to evade capture, along with keeping his identity a secret but while he started as very inexperienced, and clearly has never attended a Hero Academy before, he gradually got better and better too quickly, outshining Pro-Heroes at every turn and seemingly doing a better job than them with protecting citizens from all sorts of danger.
If people died because he interfered with Hero Work, it was never made public, and that is something that the Hero Public Safety Commission, which supervises all Hero activities, would never keep under the rug since they especially hate vigilantes more than villains.
It's gotten to the point that the majority of Pro-Heroes have started refusing to engage Webjack unless one of the Top 30 Pros is around to avoid further humiliation as the backlash from his continued spring of "heroics" has left a real number on several of their careers that the first year students of every Hero Universities who are normally kept in the dark about such matters have begun to notice.
It honestly paints a bad picture for anyone intending to be a future hero if their careers are at risk of being outshone by someone who's against the Law.
Regardless, neither Asui nor Mineta can deny that they're grateful for the save and will try to stay out of Webjack's way if it can be avoided.
Before the Vigilante proceeded to explore the rest of the USJ, he took the time to move the villains out of the water, to prevent any of them from drowning, later tiding them up together in a cocoon of web dangling a few feet from the ground.
"Boy, it's a good thing I managed to get the right materials to make my suit waterproof for such an occasion," Webjack mused to himself.
"You bastard," Hanzo cursed, the only one still conscious but still unable to move because of the pain in his body.
"Don't force yourselves. I don't mean to brag, but you'll need to be as strong as Mirko to free yourselves from my Psi-Webs, and you don't strike me as the kind of guys who never miss leg day," Webjack advised him to relax and accept defeat.
"What are you even doing here? I thought you avoided all the facilities run by Heroes like a plague," Hanzo demanded.
Webjack, the wisecracker that he is, chuckled in response. "Ah, my friend, the city talks. I heard whispers and caught a rumor or two. You know how it is."
Hanzo's eyes narrowed. "Rumors? Bullshit! The plans for this attack were top secret, with no way for anyone to know about it. Unless someone among us snitched, didn't they!"
"Now, now, don't start doubting your friends," Webjack lightly lectured. "Look, I'm a concerned citizen. Kids getting attacked and heroes nowhere to be found? That doesn't sit right with me."
Hanzo gritted his teeth. "Release me! I won't be humiliated by a masked freak!"
Webjack shook his head with a hidden smirk, amused by the Villain not understanding the true depth of his predicament. "Well, you're in a bit of a sticky situation, aren't you? But don't worry, I'll leave the questions to the pros. I've got a date with a few more troublemakers."
With that, Webjack swung away, leaving Hanzo to fume in the cocoon of web.
Inwardly, the Vigilante was in a state of stress. He's been through some tough situations ever since he donned the mask, but this felt different somehow, so much more intense. The university that he once dreamed of entering is under attack. Eighteen students are in grave danger, and only two Pros are here to protect them. He was sure that there was supposed to be a third Pro to give out lessons to Class 1-A. The Hero of Heroes, All Might, but he most likely got sidetracked doing Hero work since Musutafu has a pretty high crime rate.
Great for the city. Bad for every non-villain in the USJ.
'He has to come eventually. Until then, everyone has to pull their weight. And they will!' He thought as a strong and ominous tingling sensation started ringing in his head. So strong was this feeling that the world started to slow down around him, becoming so clear. He could see everything.
Like the most famous Underground Erasure Hero: Lockdown, fighting off the largest group of villains all on his own with peak human strength and skill that only a true hero could possess. His Quirk's ability to nullify the powers of most other Quirks renders the majority of the villains even more powerless.
But he was not quite safe, for standing on the sidelines was the apparent leader of the League, a tall, slim man with grayish-blue, shoulder-length hair, wearing black clothes and sports fourteen embalmed hands, all positioned so they're holding onto him on different parts of his body, which just has to be the most ridiculous costume ever, unless they aren't mannequins but rather actual severed hands, in which case, Jackie was officially creeped out.
Beside him was a hulking humanoid beast that had many scars on it. His brain is exposed on the top of his head, while his large eyes are around it. He has a beak-like mouth with an array of sharp teeth. He only wears a pair of beige pants and metal knee pads designed to emulate skulls. His feet and torso are left bare.
Both stood there without a care in the world, unconcerned with Lockdown's obvious superiority, meaning they weren't impressed and could defeat him easily. The Pro needed help.
But that was not his main concern right now, for he bore witness to another fight happening at the same time.
Near the entrance of the USJ, the other Pro/Teacher and five students are being confronted by another Villain, who is seemingly made of only a black fog, with the only thing visible being his large, glowing yellow eyes.
One of the students, Tenya Iida, reluctantly readies to flee and seek help from the outside, the Villain attempts to stop him by spreading his black fog, but Thirteen steps in, raising her right hand with one of her glove's fingers flipping open so she can use her Quirk, which creates a Black Hole that will suck in anything and reduce it to dust.
Immensely powerful but a double-edged sword. Webjack had analyzed the Space Hero before. She's amazing and has rescued more lives than any of the other UA. Teachers, besides All Might with her Quirk, but as far as he could study, she has no real fighting experience, so against an intelligent foe, Black Hole might not be enough.
Unfortunately, the Fog Villain is such a foe who had Thirteen all figured out and was prepared, not bothering to escape the Black Hole; he lets the mighty vacuum try to suck him, only for his body to morph, now resembling a portal, and from behind Thirteen, the same black fog manifests, also resembling a portal.
It was crystal clear now, and Webjack acted quickly, shooting another webline straight at Thirteen's left shoulder of her astronaut-like costume and pulling her as hard as he could to save her from her own Black Hole that was now coming out from the portal behind her, and not a moment too soon, with multiple cracks now visible on her costume.
"—WHAT'S UP, DANGER!" Webjack shouted as hard as his lungs could allow for all to hear him, landing right at the scene.
"What?!" Kurogiri gasped in shock at the sudden arrival.
"It's you!" Thirteen was equally perplexed to see the Vigilante here while she lay on the ground after being narrowly saved, one of her students, Mina Ashido, staying close to her in case she needed help.
"So instead of the Symbol of Peace, it is a fellow Outcast of Society that will try and save the day," Kurogiri said, his surprise also mixed with curiosity.
"Nah, I was just sightseeing, wanted to see how Pros train their rookies, catch up on what I'm missing. And I must say, UA does not disappoint," Webjack mused. "I mean, hiring wannabe villains for target practice. So cool."
"You won't think like that in a few moments," Kurogiri replied hostilely, but Webjack made the first move, shooting two more weblines to grab him, but they just went right past the villain with no visible effect. "Futile!"
Kurogiri charges forward, the black fog that is himself moving like a tsunami straight for the Web-Slinger with the intent to warp him right into the hands of the Nomu so that he may be squashed like a bug.
Webjack ran swiftly, not as fast as the Speedsters of the Iida Family, but enough to evade the incoming darkness better than any of the students who had only just barely evaded the cruel shadow.
It was then that it happened again, the tingling in his head stung, allowing Webjack to see perfectly and notice it, a metal brace hidden within the darkness that Kurogiri had been hiding earlier from everyone. Spreading his body this much left it partially exposed, and he realized what he needed. Covering his body in black fog must be his idea of a costume and a way to hide any weak spots. The metal brace must be the only part of his body that he can't make with himself completely.
That wasn't the only thing he noticed. Behind him, Lockdown was now in trouble. The leader of the Villains struck and injured him; his right elbow is practically torn, the flesh looking like it has rapidly decayed, leaving a lot of ugly red. He's helpless now, especially since that bird-like hulk has also moved in.
Acting swiftly, Webjack fired two weblines again, and this time managed to hit their mark.
"NO!" Kurogiri panicked, too late to realize his weak spot had been exposed.
"Hope you like to fly!" Webjack shouted, lifting Kurogiri into the air with all of his strength and sending him flying away, straight into Nomu, hitting him right in the face, startling him long enough to give Lockdown the precious time he needed to evade certain death.
"Kurogiri! WHAT THE FUCK!" The Leader, Tomura Shigaraki, snapped in outrage. The cool, level-headed demeanor and confidence he had a few seconds ago while he was taunting Lockdown vanished in the blink of an eye upon seeing his right-hand man and literal ride get tossed around and ruin his big speech.
"I'm so sorry, young master," Kurogiri muttered in shame and later groaned when Nomu tossed him off his face to the ground.
'Did backup arrive already?' Shota Aizawa thought with concealed hope. As much as he loathes the man, he'll never deny that having All Might's help is sorely needed when it counts.
"Did somebody order a Hero!" Webjack yelled, leaping into the scene and, in almost the blink of an eye, hitting the remaining villains that Lockdown had yet to finish off with a single blow to each of them before standing beside the Erasure Hero.
"No? Anybody? Oh, okay," The Vigilante feigned a hurt expression at the lack of response.
'On second thought. The longer I can spend away from that clown, the semi-happier my day will be,' Aizawa corrected his previous thoughts. 'My eyes are practically on fire.'
"He's a mouthful, but I have to admit that his arrival is a small blessing," Tenya said bluntly.
"You're one to talk about being a mouthful," Hanta Sero commented, since Tenya has a bad habit of running his mouth and being bossy.
"Never mind that. Go Iida. Carry on with the plan," Thirteen encouraged Tenya to flee and warned the UA Faculty of what was happening.
"Y-Yes! I swear I won't fail you all!" Tenya vowed, the reluctance to be the only one to escape still plain on his expression, but the logical side in him soon won over, and he ran as fast as the car-like engines on the calves of his legs created by his Quirk to run at superhuman speed would allow, reaching for the exit. Opening the doors required more strength than the younger Iida thought he could muster, but he succeeded and was home free to find more heroes.
"The rest of you should also leave. The fewer targets for these Villains, the better Lockdown, and I can fight without worry," Thirteen instructed the remaining four students with her, who nod and too flee from the USJ.
"Webjack! What the hell are you doing here?" Tomura demanded, subconsciously scratching his neck from the newfound frustration coursing through his body.
"Why the attitude, friend? Nobody told me this was a private party, so I figured, why not have some fun and visit you guys?" Webjack joked.
"This is a "private party," and rule #1 says no annoying insects allowed," Tomura seethed.
"Actually, spiders are arachnids, not insects. There's a clear difference, and I'd figured anyone smart enough to plan an assault on any heavily guarded facility right under the noses of pro heroes would be smart enough to know that," Webjack corrected sagely.
"Are you calling me stupid?"
"Would having a dance with me make you feel better?"
"Kill him, Nomu,"
The Nomu howled. A wet, guttural bellow that split the air like tearing metal. Lockdown turned too late. Webjack didn't. In a blur of green and black, the Vigilante lunged forward and shoved Lockdown aside, just before a pair of monstrous fists slammed down where they had been standing—the impact shattered the concrete, carving a crater deep enough to bury three bodies whole.
Chunks of debris ricocheted across the battlefield, but Webjack was already moving. He vaulted backward, springing off the crater's edge, flipping high into the air with the ease of a phantom dancer. The hulking beast charged again, massive and unrelenting—its grotesque muscle mass didn't hinder its speed in the slightest. In fact, it moved with the terrifying precision of something engineered, not born.
Webjack's limbs blurred as he twisted, ducked, and dodged. The monster's punches came faster than most could see, but the Vigilante kept just ahead of the onslaught, each dodge a breath away from death. Spectators couldn't follow their movements—all they saw were green flashes, shockwaves, and the occasional ripple in the air when the fists connected with nothing.
Then Webjack slipped low, flattening his body to the ground as a massive punch whooshed overhead. In one smooth pivot, he moved behind the Nomu's left flank and drove a punch straight into its side, full force, something he never did before on a moving target, but everything inside him—his instincts, his Spider-Sense, his buried panic—told him not to hold back against this thing.
His fist struck true. And bounced off like he'd punched a pillow made of meat and stone.
'What the—?!' Webjack's heart skipped. 'That was a clean hit… why didn't he react?'
The Nomu didn't flinch. Didn't grunt. Didn't notice. It simply turned and resumed its assault, arms whirling like blunt cleavers.
Backpedaling, Webjack danced away from a rapid barrage of punches, but his tempo slipped—just once. It was all Nomu needed.
"If it had been anyone else, even if they had a durability Quirk, that punch would've been a lethal blow," Kurogiri commented once he got on his feet and returned to Tomura's side.
"Yes. I'll give it to him that he is a strong secret boss, but what else did we expect from our Anti-Symbol of Peace?" Tomura chuckled, returning to his dominating demeanor. "Two birds with one stone. Master seemed convinced that this brat might be a threat, so this is as good a time as any."
"Lockdown! Are you alright?" Thirteen asked, rushing to her fellow Pro's side.
"I'll manage, as soon as my eyes are cleaned up," Lockdown hissed, trying to use the teardrops he always carries with him on his painfully dried eyes, but it's a bit of a struggle with his right arm damaged.
"Class 1-A remains scattered, the Villains still have the numerical advantage, and we only just got someone out to get help," She informed. "This is the worst-case scenario for the university."
"I know, but truthfully, I'm not entirely worried for my students since plenty of them can put up a fight against the majority of these amateurs," Lockdown said, rejoicing as his eyes now felt a whole lot better. "It's the three standing before us that pose the real threat, so we have to hold the line, even if it means joining up with a vigilante."
"Regardless, I instructed those who weren't warped and scattered across the facility to flee, with Iida rushing over to campus to bring reinforcements."
"Very good,"
"Kurogiri. What did the space clown mean when she said that they just got someone out?" Tomura asked irritably.
"I'm sorry, young master. But just as Webjack overwhelmed me, the students I didn't warp, including a speedster among the students, made a run for it and fled from the facility," Kurogiri admitted with his shame resurfacing.
And just like that, Tomura's tantrum returns, scratching his neck more intensely.
"Are you kidding me? What good is a damn teleporter if you can't keep a bunch of spoiled brats in line from causing us trouble?" He hissed. "Still, UA is more likely to just send All Might at last, so it's not a total bust. And besides—"
The beast lunged forward and swung its arm in a devastating arc, smashing Webjack across the right side of his body. The blow hit like a truck, launching him across the battlefield.
"—The pesky "bug" won't last much longer."
His body tumbled, skipping across the concrete like a stone across water before crashing into a support pillar. White-hot pain ignited in his ribs and burned down his side. He choked on breath, vision swimming, muscles screaming—he'd never been hit that hard before. Not even close.
Still, he moved. Because stopping meant dying. He forced his battered limbs to obey, pushing off the ground just as the Nomu lunged for another blow. Webjack raised both forearms, crossing them in front of his face to block the incoming hammer fist.
The impact cracked the air. It should've shattered his bones. Should've torn his arms clean off. But they held. Barely. Pain exploded through his nerves like firecrackers, but the web-slinger didn't scream. He gritted his teeth, backpedaled, and collapsed—hard.
His body wanted to shut down. His instincts said run. But the voice in his head—the one that sounded like a scared boy, the one that used to stutter and take notes and cry when Heroes looked the other way—that voice went silent.
He wasn't that boy anymore.
All my life, the one thing that was ever constant and prevalent was Pain. But up until now, it was lenient and gave me time to catch my breath, get back up to walk tall again, just so that I could be brought down the very next day.
But things are different now. Whenever Pain comes at me, I can't suck it up anymore. I have to evade and get back up quicker because bringing me down is not fun anymore. Every blow is now meant to kill. That's fine. I'm ready for it. I won't be put down without a fight.
Nomu charged in for the finishing blow—fists up, eyes empty of thought. Webjack twisted to the side, dropped low, and slid between the Nomu's legs, his slim frame moving like water through the cracks.
As Nomu turned, Webjack fired two glowing green strands—Psi-Webs—straight at the monster's legs. The energy cords wrapped tightly, sparking and crackling as they latched on with unnatural force.
"Try falling for me," Webjack hissed through clenched teeth.
With a roar, he pulled—and Nomu's massive body toppled like a skyscraper, slamming face-first into the cracked concrete with an earth-shaking crash. Webjack wasn't done. Ignoring the fire in his ribs, he sprang into the air, flipped midair, and unleashed a volley of Psi-Webbing. The glowing strands cascaded downward like radiant chains, encasing Nomu in a thick cocoon of psychic light.
The creature snarled and struggled as the webbing held tight, glowing green against the black sludge of its skin.
"Break free, you useless thing!" Tomura screeched from the far end of the battlefield, scratching at his neck like an agitated dog.
Nomu roared and thrashed, webbing straining under the pressure—but it held. For now.
Webjack landed hard, staggering once before locking his legs into place. His arms trembled from pain. His ribs screamed.
"I don't mean to sound boastful or arrogant, but this thing has to at least be half as strong as All Might because not even Mirko's kicks hurt this badly," He muttered to himself, breathing hard.
Webjack's eyes locked onto Tomura Shigaraki. The Nomu was brawn. All muscle. No real mind. The twitchy pale guy scratching his neck raw behind him? That was the real problem. The puppeteer. And if Webjack could cut the strings—
A low hum behind him. Cold metal against his nerves.
His Spider-Sense screamed.
Webjack moved before the portal behind him had fully opened—Kurogiri's warping shroud crackled into being, but the Vigilante had already dropped low, pivoting on his palm to roll clear.
But his precognition couldn't save him from everything.
Because Nomu chose that moment to break free. Shredded strands of green psi-webbing scattered into the air as the creature roared, steam rolling off its body in waves. And it was already in motion. The beast's hand shot out—massive fingers clamping around Webjack's head like a vise.
"Shit!"
The rest was a blur of agony. Nomu slammed him downward with merciless force. The fountain shattered under the impact, exploding into stone shards and dust as water surged outward from the crater. The sound echoed like a small bomb had gone off. Chunks of marble bounced across the facility floor.
Lockdown flinched. Thirteen's fingers curled tight. Even Shigaraki paused.
"That… that had to have killed him," He muttered.
But it didn't.
Down in the crater, Webjack moved. Sluggish. Twitching. But alive. His fingers clawed at the rubble, his body screaming in protest. He gasped, eyes wide under his mask, every breath like glass in his lungs. He didn't even know if he had lungs anymore.
Still, he rose. Shaky hands went to his chest. His costume—tattered, burned, and webbed with blood—ripped apart as he tore the front open with a hoarse growl. The tight synth fabric split to reveal his bruised and battered torso. The light stubbornly returned.
From his bare skin, a torrent of psi-webbing erupted like a geyser in radiant green arcs that blasted Nomu off his feet. The beast roared as it flew back, caught midair by the surge, and was hauled up, slammed against the ceiling, wrapped once more in a shimmering cocoon of psychic force.
The ceiling groaned. The webbing spread wide, anchoring into the supports. The monster struggled, but the new binding was denser, hotter, and angrier than before.
Shigaraki shrieked, scratching harder, his neck a red canvas of claw marks.
"HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?! That thing was created to KILL ALL MIGHT!"
Beside him, Kurogiri's mist shimmered with tension.
"Remarkable," The Warp Villain said, almost respectfully. "The Master was wise to classify him as a threat. This Vigilante… is more than a nuisance."
Down below, in the wreckage of the fountain, Webjack collapsed.
His breath hitched. His chest heaved. The adrenaline was thinning, and all that was left was the ache. Pain bloomed in every nerve like wildfire, his muscles shaking with overuse.
But still, he moved.
Because the job wasn't done. He lay in the crater, staring at the smoky sky of the ruined training dome above him, before exhaling sharply through his modulator.
"Okay…" He groaned, voice flat. "Ow."
Forcing his arms under him, he began to crawl out of the crater, one dragging motion at a time.
"Note to self: next time you fight a Frankenstein-looking cosplayer, bring backup… or a tank…"
He stumbled to his feet, swaying like a drunk, legs trembling beneath him. His stance was crooked, but somehow still defiant.
His costume was nearly shredded across the chest and abdomen, the texture of the suit — already worn and obviously homemade — showing its limits. A jagged crack split across the right eye-lens of his mask, and tufts of hair, unmistakably dark green, poked out from beneath it.
Not enough to reveal his identity. But enough to raise questions.
Lockdown narrowed his eyes, processing fast. 'The cracks in his suit… that's not industry material. Homemade. Durable though. Reinforced. And the voice—'
Webjack's voice was different now, buzzing with a deeper, distorted frequency, mechanical and warped. He didn't sound smooth and confident anymore—he sounded like something was wrong, synthetic.
And yet, the two Pro-Heroes watching could tell: this wasn't a machine.
He was a man. A resourceful, dangerously clever, and very human young man.
"A voice modulator underneath the mask," Lockdown muttered to himself. "He's masking everything. Smart kid."
'My Spider-Cord is busted. Fantastic,' Webjack cursed, but counts himself lucky that the mask held on better than he'd hoped.
Up above, Nomu struggled in his bonds, and Shigaraki's tantrum reached a fever pitch.
Webjack coughed, blood spattering behind his mask. He staggered upright, his left leg shaking like jelly.
Still, he looked up at the struggling monster he'd just barely survived.
"Well…" He rasped, voice glitching through the modulator. "The big guy's not that tough… I've had tougher fans on Twitter…"
He bent forward slightly, wincing.
"… granted, they didn't slam my head through a fountain. So, points for creativity…"
Tomura's tantrum was reaching new heights. He clawed at his neck like it had wronged him personally, red welts forming beneath the relentless scratching.
"He's ruining everything! Everything! That damn spider—"
"You're the one throwing a fit," Webjack called out flatly, swaying slightly as he remained upright. "Might want to hydrate. Tantrums burn calories."
The villain snarled.
"I'll get rid of him this time," Kurogiri shimmered into motion, the warp mist already forming behind the wounded Vigilante.
"I think not!" Lockdown stepped in, elbow still half-decayed, eyes burning red. With a hard glare, he erased the Warp Gate mid-formation. Kurogiri stiffened as his body flickered in and out of cohesion.
"Fine. I'll kill you instead." Tomura growled, turning sharply and lunging.
Lockdown didn't flinch.
With a twist of his wrist and a snap of his cloth, he snared Shigaraki by the arm, dragged him forward, and slammed him to the ground, hard enough to crack tile.
Shigaraki hissed, reaching out with his right hand to use his Decay.
Lockdown looked away from Kurogiri for just a second, just long enough to erase Decay before it could activate. Then he drove his boot into the back of Tomura's skull.
"Stay down."
"Y-Young master!" Kurogiri called out, frozen once again under the capture of Erasure.
But the momentary control didn't last. From above, the ceiling split open. Nomu fell. Shattering concrete, the monster landed in a crouch like an animal ready to pounce. With no command needed, it launched toward Lockdown. That's when Thirteen made her move.
Her visor gleamed as her arm twisted toward the beast, and with a deafening whirl, a massive vacuum roared to life. The artificial singularity of the Black Hole opened wide, dragging everything in its path. Nomu skidded, snarled, and dug its claws into the floor, but even that wasn't enough. Its fingers tore trenches in the concrete as its body began to lift.
Then… it started breaking apart. Chunks of flesh and muscle were stripped from its frame—atomized, devoured by the void. Despite this, the beast endured. Worse, the wounds were rapidly knitting themselves shut in seconds. Muscles. Skin. Bones. All of it was restored faster than Black Hole could rip him apart.
Thirteen's heart dropped. "It's regenerating?! It… it has two Quirks?! What kind of monster…?"
Nomu didn't give her time to process it as it drew closer to her to kill.
"She's not on the menu!" Webjack shouted, a sudden green blur rejoining the fray. He launched two psi-webs toward Nomu's flailing right arm and pulled hard, shifting the angle of its descent just enough to break the suction.
Thirteen deactivated her Quirk and staggered back, breathing heavily.
Nomu hit the floor, only to quickly get up and slam both fists into the ground, sending out a shockwave that shattered the terrain beneath it. Webjack backflipped away, barely dodging the quake, but the tremor cracked Lockdown's focus.
Shigaraki took the opening.
He scuttled backward like a crab and slipped behind Nomu's massive frame, disappearing from Lockdown's line of sight. In the same breath, Kurogiri regained his power, the black mist reforming around him.
A portal bloomed around Lockdown.
"No!" Thirteen shouted.
She quickly pulsed her Quirk—not at Nomu, not at Shigaraki—but at Lockdown, pulling him backward out of the portal's radius just in time before shutting it down.
Everything froze with both sides pausing, breathing hard, assessing, bleeding. Shigaraki, breathing heavily, stood at Nomu's back with Kurogiri by his side. Together, they formed a wall that kept Lockdown from using Erasure again.
"Kurogiri," Shigaraki rasped, "Go get me some of the brats. Hostages. We're ending this."
Kurogiri bowed and vanished into the dark.